Transhumanists Can Love Life and Acknowledge Problems
Lincoln Cannon
29 July 2008 (updated 5 January 2021)
The Mormon Transhumanist Association received the following email from a site visitor today:
“Life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced.” Soren Aabye Kierkegaard
The return address on the email did not work. So I’ll respond here in my blog.
While I agree heartily that life overall is not a problem and that it is a reality to be experienced, I imagine that the sender of the email doesn’t think a Transhumanist could sincerely agree. Of course, I do see problems in life, both present and foreboding. So did Kierkegaard, as illustrated by writing or speaking the quoted sentence. And so does the sender of the email, as illustrated in the act of emailing us.
However, acknowledging problems in life and working to change them does not mean one must consider life itself a problem. So far as I am concerned, life (present, past and future) is not only worth experiencing. But it’s also worth celebrating and experiencing ever more fully.
That is a goal of both Mormonism and Transhumanism. So, please, keep observing the problems in life and sending us email that will help us solve them!
